This paper examines the role of democratic practice in contemporary India, going beyond the elementary concern with democratic institutions per se. The foundations of democratic practice are identified as facility (functional democratic institutions), involvement (informed public engagement with these institutions), and equity (a fair distribution of power). The achievements and limitations of Indian democracy are assessed in this light, with special attention to the adverse effects of social inequality on democratic practice. It is argued that while the quality of democracy is often compromised by social inequality and inadequate political participation, democratic practice itself is a powerful tool of elimination of these handicaps.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Amnesty International . 1992. India: Torture, Rape and Deaths in Custody. New York: Amnesty International .
2.
BARDHAN, P. , S. Bowles , and H. GINTIS . 2000. "Wealth Inequality, Credit Constraints, and Economic Performance. " In Handbook of Income Distribution, edited by A.B. Atkinson and F. Bourguignon . Amsterdam: North-Holland .
3.
BARRO, Robert J.1996. Getting it Right: Markets and Choices in a Free Society. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press .
4.
BHATIA, Bela. 2000. "The Naxalite Movement in Central Bihar." PhD dissertation, University of Cambridge.
5.
BHATIA, Bela and Jean DRÈZE . 1998. "For Democracy and Development,"Frontline, March 6.
6.
forthcoming in Civil and Uncivil Society, edited by C. Elliott . Delhi: Oxford University Press .
7.
forthcoming in Social Capital and Politics in Everyday Life, edited by P. Dekker and E. Uslaner . London: Routledge .
8.
CHARI, P.R.2000. "Security and Governance,"The Hindu, November 21.
9.
CROOK, R.C. and J. MANOR . 1998. Democracy and Decentralisation in South Asia and West Africa: Participation, Accountablity and Performance. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press .
10.
1999b. "Poverty in India: Trends and Decompositions," mimeo, World Bank, Washington, DC .
11.
DEBROY, Bibek . 2000. In the Dock: Absurdities of Indian Law. Delhi: Konark .
12.
DEY, Nikhil and Aruna ROY . 2000. "The Right to Information: Facilitating People's Participation and State Accountability." Paper presented at a conference on Directions of Political Change in India, University of Oxford.
13.
DRÈZE, Jean . 1997. "Palanpur 1957-93: Occupational Change, Land Ownership and Social Inequality." In The Village in Asia Revisited, edited by J. Breman , P. Kloos , and A. Saith . New Delhi: Oxford University Press .
14.
2001. "Upholding the Right to Food,"The Hindu, June 27.
15.
DRÈZE, Jean , and Haris GAZDAR . 1996. "Uttar Pradesh: The Burden of Inertia." Pp. 33-128 in Indian Development: Selected Regional Perspectives, edited by J. Drèze and A. Sen . Oxford and New Delhi: Oxford University Press .
16.
DRÈZE, Jean and Amartya SEN . 1989. Hunger and Public Action. Oxford: Clarendon Press .
17.
DRÈZE, Jean and Amartya SEN . 1995. India: Economic Development and Social Opportunity, 1st. ed.Oxford and New Delhi: Oxford University Press .
18.
DRÈZE, Jean and Amartya SEN . Forthcoming. India: Development and Participation. New Delhi and Oxford: Oxford University Press .
19.
FRANKEL, F. , Z. Hasan , and R. BHARGAVA , eds. 2000. Transforming India: Social and Political Dynamics of Democracy. Oxford: Oxford University Press .
20.
GALBRAITH, John Kenneth . 1952. American Capitalism: The Concept of Countervailing Power. Boston: Houghton Mifflin .
21.
GHATAK, Maitreya and Maitreesh GHATAK . 2000. "Grassroots Democracy: A Study of the Panchayat System in West Bengal." Paper presented at a conference on Experiments in Empowered Deliberative Democracy, January, Madison, Wisconsin.
22.
Government of Maharashtra . 1994. “Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar: Writings and Speeches.” Vol. 13: Dr. Ambedkar: The Principal Architect of the Constitution of India. Bombay: Education Department .
23.
HELLER, Patrick . 1999. The Labor of Development: Workers and the Transformation of Capitalism in Kerala, India. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press .
24.
HELLER, Patrick . 2000a. "Degrees of Democracy: Some Comparative Lessons from India."World Politics52(4): 484-519 .
25.
HELLER, Patrick . 2000b. "Moving the State: The Politics of Democratic Decentralization in Kerala, South Africa and Porto Alegre." Paper presented at an International Conference on Democratic Decentralisation, May 23-27, Thiruvananthapuram.
26.
HIRSHMAN, Albert . 1991. The Rhetoric of Reaction: Perversity, Futility, Jeopardy. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press .
27.
Human Rights Features . 1999. "Impunity and World Torture Day." Press release, South Asia Human Rights Documentation Centre, New Delhi .
28.
Institute of Social Sciences . 1999. Panchayati Raj Update, vol. VI. New Delhi: Institute of Social Sciences .
29.
ISAAC, T. and K.N. HARILAL . 1997. "Planning for Empowerment: People's Campaign for Decentralised Planning in Kerala."Economic and Political Weekly, 4 January.
30.
1999b. "Democracy and Social Capital in the Central Himalaya: A Tale of Two Villages." Paper presented at a conference on Democracy and Social Capital in Segmented Societies, June, Uppsala University.
31.
JAYARAMAN, R. and P. LANJOUW . 1999. "The Evolution of Poverty and Inequality in Indian Villages."World Bank Research Observer14(1): 1-30 .
32.
KISHWAR, Madhu . 1996. "Women's Marginal Role in Politics."Manushi97 .
33.
KOHLI, Atul . 1987. The State and Poverty in India: The Politics of Reform. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press .
34.
LIETEN, G.K.1996a. Development, Devolution and Democracy: Village Discourse in West Bengal. New Delhi: Sage .
35.
LIETEN, G.K.1996b. "Panchayats in Western Uttar Pradesh: 'Namesake' Members."Economic and Political Weekly, September 28.
36.
MANDER, Harsh . 2001. Unheard Voices. New Delhi: Penguin .
37.
MATHEW, George and Ramesh NAYAK . 1996. "Panchayats at Work: What is Means for the Oppressed."Economic and Political Weekly, July 16.
38.
MENON, Nivedita . 2000. "Elusive 'Woman': Feminism and Women's Reservation Bill."Economic and Political Weekly, October 28.
39.
MENON, Parvati . 2000. "The Woman's Place."Frontline, March 18.
40.
MOHANTY, Bidyut . 1995. "Panchayati Raj, 73rd Constitutional Amendment and Women."Economic and Political Weekly, December 30.
41.
MULLEN, Rani. Forthcoming. "Does Local Governance Matter? The Relationship between Village Government and Social Welfare in Selected Indian States." Ph.D dissertation, Princeton University.
42.
NANDY, Ashis . 2000. "Why Development and Prosperity will not Remove Poverty."Humanscape13(11).
43.
NAYAR, Kuldip . 2000. "Double Standards."The Hindu, November 18.
44.
OMVEDT, Gail . 2000. "Women and PR."The Hindu, September 11.
45.
2001. "Social Capital, Panchayats and Grass Roots Democracy: Politics of Dalit Assertion in Uttar Pradesh."Economic and Political Weekly, February 24.
46.
POWIS, Benjamin. 1999. "Bottom-up Approaches to Decentralisation: The People's Planning Campaign in Kerala." Ms dissertation, Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex.
47.
PRZEWORSKI, Adam , ed. 1995. Sustainable Democracy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press .
48.
PUSHPENDRA . 1999. "Dalit Assertion through Electoral Politics."Economic and Political Weekly, September 4.
49.
RAJ, Sebasti L. and E. MATHIAS . 1998. People's Power and Panchayati Raj: Theory and Practice. New Delhi: Indian Social Institute .
50.
ROY, Arundhati . 1999. The Cost of Living. London: Flamingo .
51.
2000b. "India and the Bomb."The New Republic, September 25.
52.
SENGUPTA, Sunil and Haris GAZDAR . 1996. "West Bengal: The Challenge of Rural Poverty." In Indian Development: Selected Regional Perspectives, edited by J.P. Drèze and A.K. Sen . New Delhi: Oxford University Press .
53.
SHAH, M. , D. Banerji , P.S. Vijayshankar , and P. Ambasta . 1998. India's Drylands: Tribal Societies and Development through Environmental Regeneration. New Delhi: Oxford University Press .
54.
SHLEIFER, A. and R. VISHNY . 1993. "Corruption."Quarterly Journal of Economics108: 599-617 .
55.
SRINIVAS, M.N.1992. On Living in a Revolution and Other Essays. New Delhi: Oxford University Press .
56.
VARSHNEY, Ashutosh . 2000. "Is India Becoming More Democratic?"Journal of Asian Studies59(1): 3-25 .
57.
VYASULU, P. and V. VYASULU . 1999. "Women in Panchayati Raj: Grass Roots Democracy in Malgudi."Economic and Political Weeekly, December 25.
58.
YADAV, Yogendra . 2000. "Understanding the Second Democratic Upsurge." In Transforming India: Social and Political Dynamics of Democracy, edited by F. Frankel , Z. Hasan , and R. Bhargava . Oxford: Oxford University Press .
59.
YADAV, Y. and V.B. Singh . 1997. "The Maturing of a Democracy,"India Today, August 31.
